A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE: The Hudson years

In keeping up with the weekly series, "Kevin Travis: Author - The Early Years," I share some of the poems I wrote in the 4th grade. Miss Mozingo, who as I recall, was really pretty... I think she was my first crush, compiled a list of poems into a handy folder.

So not only will I share a few of my poems, but will also share some of my classmates poems. You're welcome, Lori Tyrrell (Memsic), Ted McFarlane, Carlton Christopher (we became friends in the 4th grade and are of the bestest friends today), Holly Hetrick and Kelly Sullivan (Weissfeld).

The poems I wrote that made it in:

Today
Cold, snowy
Windy and freezing
Christmas is coming soon
Winter.

A white soft snowflake
Coming extremely lightly
Falling from the sky.

Two gems that didn't make it, and I can't see why because they are moving and heart-wrenching:

My dog Scamp
Is really a tramp
So we sent him off to camp.

And one of my all-time favorites:

Superman
Kicked a can
That was the end of Batman.

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Here are a couple from Lori Tyrrell (Memsic). She was one of the popular, pretty girls and was on the flag team (I think that's what they are called) at Hudson High School.

What is Saturday?
Guess what's my favorite day?
Why it's Saturday!
I must say,
The colors are so gay.
Saturday's the psychedelic way!
(Seriously, who knows "psychedelic" in the 4th grade? She was smart!!)

Fawn
As gentle as a warm spring breeze,
As soft as a baby bunny,
As graceful as a butterfly in the blue sky,
As fast as a horse in the meadow.

Transylvania to Terryville two tarantulas traveled
Ten tiny turtles traveled, too.
They're going to Toledo to tip their hats
To take girls to dances and to tell their tall tales.

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And from Ted MacFarlane, who was a stud in high school.

Saturday is Yellow
Yellow is nice
Yellow's not mean
Yellow is not ugly
Yellow is kean
Yellow is hot
Yellow is not cold
Yellow is not frightened
Yellow is bold.

Nancy knows her nose is enormous.
Her nephew neglects her nonsense.
But when Nancy knocked her nose on Norm's noggin'
Nancy's nose became normal.

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Carlton Christopher offered these:

The small croaking frogs
Jumping into cold water
Eating lots of flies.

April showers bring May flowers
Unless it doesn't rain in April.

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Kelly Sullivan (Weissfeld) had these wonderful words: (Kelly was super cool in high school!)
Spring is nice,
And Summer's great,
But Winter's the one
I really hate.

Smiles
Happy, joyful
Showing your teeth
I'm so happy
Grin.
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Holly Hetrick offered these:

Wreaths are bristley
With lots of holly berries,
I have one of these.

Rainbows starting from the sky
Will it ever stop forming?
We will never know!

On Beautiful Days
On beautiful days
You can see bays
Fawns come out
And roam about.
Days get longer.
Night grow shorter.
We'll have fun
In the sun!
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 REMINISCING: HUDSON HIGH SCHOOL

While being nostalgic, I decided to go through my high school year book (Go Explorers!!).

Ahh, I have such fond memories of the football games (watching from the bleachers).

Ahh, I have such fond memories of the basketball games (watching from the bleachers).

Ahh, I have such fond memories of the dances (standing by the door and waiting to go back to the car to drink a Little Kings or two because I thought I was "cool.")

Going through our senior pictures, (I was trying to look tough in mine, but it's hard to be tough when you weight like 120 pounds), I couldn't help but smile. I remember hanging out with guys like Carlton Christopher, Tom Creamer, Mark Meeker, David Puleo, Dan Kreeger, Donny Alberson, Billy Cuthbertson, Bill Fulton, Paul Kornuta, Tim Klausner, David Kovacs, David Packard...a bunch of great guys.

Notice that I didn't mention any girls. Despite my "brawny" 120-pound frame, I didn't exactly land the ladies like the studs of those days: Ted MacFarlane, Sam Anderson, James Blythe, Kevin Casey, Jeff Albee, Jim Coleman, Brad Daberko, John Fink, Trent Fouts, Steve Herold, David Lloyd, Scott Malson, Scott Martell, John Martinson, Michael Mays, James McGrath, Chris Moore, Dante Pieramici, Dave Rhodehamel, Keith Ruch, Gerry Sobnosky, Ryan Welsh and Brian Zeh.

Hudson sure did have some beauties, and they were sweet, too! At least they didn't knock me down and laugh at me. I counted that as a plus.

My high school crush was Laurie Colitz, one of the awesome cheerleaders for the Explorers. We also had Meredith Morris (super sweet), Lisa Bottke, Lisa Belsito, Barri Abrams, Judy Bonhomme, Betsy Browning, Kristin Dallman, Amanda Dempsey (super sweet), Lauree Gallagher, Leann Galloway, Lisa Hagy, Holly Hetrick, Kathy Heller, Lisa Janik, Kristin Kauer, Kim Kauth, Eileen Kelley, Pam Keyser, Susan Kory, Suzanne Krejci, Susan Kuhel, Molly Kuhn, Kris Kuncl, Janet Lasher, Kathy Madigan, Connie McHale, Beth Minier, Kristen Moir, Kristin Nauffts, Colleen Orne, Karen Race, Laura Rich, Meg Riley (another crush), Susan Riley, Heidi Rubin, Kim Ruff, Jennifer Russell, Anne Schaefer, Kendra Schaffer, Kim Shaw (a beautiful neighbor and sweet gal, just like Justine Stanek), Cary Stauffacher, Pat Taylor, Becky Spooner (another crush), Lori Tyrrell, Barb Volle, Jayne Weinberg, Heather Wilcauskas, Amy Williamson, Sarah Wilson, Karen Wirtz (awesome cheerleader), Wendy Wolff and Jackie Young.

I miss those days. I miss some great people and some great, memorable teachers like Mr. Zetts, Mr. Sogan, Mr. Yanko and Mr. Stofsick.

It's been great going down memory lane, and I will visit again soon. Back to the real world, where I actually found a hot, sweet girl to marry!! (And I weigh more than 120 pounds now).

I hope all of you from Hudson are doing great.

God bless.